Jeremy Lemos/Matt Jencik – Three:Four Split Series Vol. 5 10” (Three:Four)
The latter of these two gentlemen was the singer/bassist of Hurl and has logged hours in Don Caballero, The(e) Speaking Canaries, Implodes, and Papa M, and lent a hand or two a Slint reunion of the last few years (I can’t be bothered to keep up with which one, or when). Motivated by personal taste and simple communication of fact, I can say that there are a few top-drawer bands in that list. His side, like the flip of this one, and both sides of Three:Four Split Series Vol. 4 (reviewed above) is the sound of choosing which roll of brown paper towels to purchase at Whole Foods. No one is expected to make or be involved with the same type of music that defined their 20s as they navigate life’s later decades, but it would be nice if 15-25 year-long career trajectories didn’t slap us in the face with blunt predictability. This Swiss label’s nifty little 10” series is like hearing musicians try to stab the past of unique and special rock music in the back with a plastic picnic knife, and all of it sounds and feels no different from the armies of anti-rock Tylenol PM that inflicted or attempted to inflict boredom onto each year of the past two decades … and then some. Mercifully limited to 300 copies and symptomatic of how inland Europeans sometimes handle American creativity. (http://www.three-four.net)
(Andrew Earles)
